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SCOM vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Zabbix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
SCOM users see value in centralized monitoring, SLA compliance, cost efficiency, but face challenges with latency and database performance.
Sentiment score
4.7
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is time-saving, offers ROI but faces competition from cheaper alternatives, enhancing bandwidth cost management.
Sentiment score
7.7
Zabbix offers cost-effective, scalable monitoring with no fees, reducing downtime and commercial software expenses while increasing ROI.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft SCOM support is generally positive, offering responsive service and resources, though satisfaction varies among users.
Sentiment score
7.0
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's support has varying reviews, highlighting responsive yet inconsistent service with suggested premium support for efficiency.
Sentiment score
6.9
Zabbix support is praised for responsiveness, community resources, and expertise, though documentation and non-paid support need improvement.
They often treat issues in isolation, not considering how one problem might relate to another.
I would rate support eight out of ten.
They often say that only premium subscribers receive support within one or two hours.
I am very satisfied with their technical support, rating it nine out of ten.
It is so straightforward that I have never had to use the support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
SCOM scales effectively in large environments, performing well in Microsoft settings but has limitations with non-Microsoft device monitoring.
Sentiment score
7.3
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer scales efficiently for enterprises, but high licensing costs and hardware complexities limit expansion.
Sentiment score
6.9
Zabbix is praised for its scalability, distributed architecture, and efficiency, despite needing robust databases for larger deployments.
The license is based on the count of the ports.
Zabbix has high scalability.
Zabbix is very scalable and lightweight.
I would rate its scalability ten out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
SCOM's stability depends on configuration, showing improvements and reliability in newer versions with proper maintenance despite occasional glitches.
Sentiment score
7.0
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is praised for stability, despite occasional SQL issues and slow performance with large databases.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zabbix is reliable and stable, with minimal issues; users value its low resource use and effective monitoring.
SCOM is a bit unstable lately, primarily due to a lack of resources.
Zabbix is very scalable and lightweight.
Zabbix is quite stable, and we haven't had any problems with Zabbix itself.
 

Room For Improvement

SCOM users criticize its cost, complexity, weak monitoring, slow performance, and inadequate third-party integration and multi-tenancy features.
Users seek improved documentation, integration, pricing, visibility, monitoring, and better stability and responsiveness in support services.
Zabbix users seek UI improvements, better documentation, enhanced reporting, security, automation, integration, and modern workload adaptations.
I would like to see a software-as-a-service version in Azure to eliminate the need for on-premise infrastructure.
SCOM is likely to be phased out in favor of more compatible tools like Icinga for application monitoring or when moving to cloud solutions like CloudWatch and Azure.
Ideally, NetFlow should have a robust alerting mechanism.
It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.
Deployment needs improvement; the process is complicated, requiring attention to infrastructure settings and installation of components like the origin application server, platform, close storage, and policy agents.
The only issue I can note is that it's Linux-based, and Linux documentation is not the best.
 

Setup Cost

SCOM's pricing is cost-effective within Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, though licensing calculations can be complex with potential additional costs.
Enterprise users find SolarWinds NetFlow pricing fair but costly when scaling, yet praise its value and return on investment.
Zabbix, a cost-effective open-source solution, offers free access without hidden fees, making it popular for enterprise adoption.
 

Valuable Features

SCOM offers deep integration and flexible monitoring for enterprise environments, with robust reporting, alerting, and seamless Microsoft service integration.
SolarWinds NetFlow excels in traffic analysis, bandwidth monitoring, and vendor-agnostic management with a user-friendly, integrable interface.
Zabbix provides open-source monitoring with customizable features, strong scalability, and robust support, ideal for cost-effective IT infrastructure management.
It assists me in detecting server downtime and delivers basic performance monitoring right out of the box.
SCOM integrates several systems and offers correlation features, like setting up everything around Active Directory or DNS.
The bandwidth indicates the utilization of the devices; if any issue occurs, it triggers an alert for me.
This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path.
The best feature is customizable reporting, which includes network diagrams and monitoring of various types of bandwidth usage and peak times.
If disk usage surpasses a threshold, say 70%, I receive alerts and can take proactive action.
Zabbix has a lot of features, including monitoring, status updates, and collecting information telemetry from storages and servers as well.
 

Mindshare comparison

Event Monitoring
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

MarcMermuys - PeerSpot reviewer
Has efficient monitoring with robust integration capabilities
We use SCOM to configure different monitors using several management packs. It integrates systems like Active Directory and correlates them, and it is used for monitoring and managing systems SCOM allows integration of several systems, providing correlation between different systems such as…
DeepakVyas - PeerSpot reviewer
Utilization alerts enhance monitoring with good alerts
The tool itself is very complicated, so training is required to handle it effectively. Configuration and the streamlining process are very complex. In my view, it is a good product if properly configured and streamlined according to your IT infrastructure. For enterprise-level organizations, SolarWinds is more appropriate than for small and medium enterprises. I would rate the solution eight out of ten.
ASM Naushad Alam - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows any number of customizations but lacks functionality for finding root causes
We have not yet purchased the commercial version so have a lack of technical ability. We do not yet fully know the key points or key features of the solution. We just use what we use along with WhatsUp Gold. Based on our use only, stability is rated a seven out of ten.
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
63%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Educational Organization
32%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SCOM?
The tool helps to monitor Windows servers. It offers alerts from a central location.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCOM?
I am not aware of the exact pricing as it is managed by my supervisor. As an academic institution, we receive substan...
What needs improvement with SCOM?
SCOM is likely to be phased out in favor of more compatible tools like Icinga ( /products/icinga-reviews ) for applic...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all ...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
The plotting of the device on the map is not appropriate. It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar...
What do you like most about Zabbix?
The template system in Zabbix is very beneficial as it saves time in configuration.
What needs improvement with Zabbix?
For me, Zabbix is very straightforward. I cannot think of any improvements needed. It's a very mature product. The on...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

System Center Operations Manager, SCOM 2012
Netflow Traffic Analyzer
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dialog Telekom
Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
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Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, BMC, IBM and others in Event Monitoring. Updated: April 2025.
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